Plumes of smoke from an El Dorado Chemical Co. plant filled the sky in July 2009 as emergency workers formed a roadblock west of Bryan. (Stewart Villanuevo/Bryan-College Station Eagle)

EDITORIAL

West explosion shows self-policing fails

Written byTHE DALLAS MORNING NEWS EDITORIAL BOARD

Published June 16, 2013

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ometimes, a voluntary best-practices approach to industry self-regulation works best to raise standards and minimize government intrusion. But when some operators choose to ignore voluntary standards, disaster can result. When it happens again and again, that’s when state and federal lawmakers should step in.

Best practices, better laws

Examples of legal standards recommended by the National Fire Protection Association for ammonium nitrate storage:

■ No storage in structures exceeding one story in height unless by special permitting.

■ No storage in unprotected metal or wooden bins, because ammonium nitrate can cause corrosion or chemical reactions.

■ No flammable liquids or liquid-propane gas may be stored anywhere on the premises.

■ Provisions shall be made to prevent unauthorized personnel from entering.

SOURCE: NFPA Code for the Storage of Ammonium Nitrate, 2002 Edition

The April 17 explosion in West is an excellent example of how badly things can go wrong when industry self-policing fails. West Fertilizer Co. was among dozens of facilities around Texas storing thousands of pounds of ammonium nitrate fertilizer, a compound that becomes explosive at high temperatures. West Fertilizer didn’t follow industry best practices by keeping its ammonium nitrate away from combustible materials, such as wooden storage facilities.

As The Dallas Morning News reported last week, the El Dorado Chemical Co. also learned the hard way, by toying with disaster. In 2009, one of its wooden warehouses caught fire in Bryan and exposed about 1 million pounds of ammonium nitrate to raging flames. Fearing an explosion, authorities ordered tens of thousands of Bryan residents to evacuate.

That was only one of three wooden El Dorado warehouses to catch fire in the past decade. In Bryan, the company opted to replace its destroyed facility with a much safer concrete structure, but wooden structures remain at its 14 other facilities because replacing them would be too expensive, the company says. And the law doesn’t require it.

Investigators in West aren’t sure what caused the April 17 fire and explosion, which killed 15 people and damaged hundreds of structures. Experts say the burning wood structure may have collapsed on top of about 30 tons of ammonium nitrate, prompting the explosion. Seeds were stored in the same building, along with an old golf cart.

West Fertilizer’s owners did not heed the warning signs from the Bryan fire, and officials in West, surrounding McLennan County and state regulatory agencies also appear not to have recognized the dangers. Today, because of West, towns across the state are conducting reviews that should have happened long ago.

West Fertilizer and El Dorado are far from alone in wagering that a few dollars saved now outweighs the risk of a big fire and even bigger explosion sometime in the future.

When industry self-policing fails repeatedly, lawmakers must take action and recognize the higher priority of protecting the public. If companies insist on using wooden warehouses, state law should severely limit how much ammonium nitrate they can store inside. Interim legislative committees should begin studying National Fire Protection Association standards for the safe handling and storage of ammonium nitrate, then turn the most important voluntary standards into mandatory ones.

When private companies gamble with the lives and property of surrounding residents to reduce their own costs, they deserve to lose their self-policing privileges.■